


Post Mortem

by ArgetCross



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Gen, Multiple Timelines, Post-Canon, Sort of AU, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 01:23:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1963695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgetCross/pseuds/ArgetCross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Alright, I'll be serious. Haura, you're dead. This isn’t an Outrealm. It’s more like your personal dead realm." Samantha said flatly.</p><p>In which her sacrifice is not the end and Death's guardians are a suspicious lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Post Mortem

The moment Grima died, Haura could feel her body depress and collapse inwards. Relief quickly overtook the pain- her gamble had worked. Around her, her comrades cried out her name, in curses, pleas, and lamentations. Then, as her body began to crumble into fine dust, they all fell silent.

She had not expected her death to be peaceful. It was supposed to come at the end of a bloody sword or with her heart stopped with lightning. Haura nearly closed her eyes to relax into death’s embrace.

Then her heart sped up, her brain kicked into overdrive, and sweat began to pour down her back. By Naga, she did not want to die! Even though she had made the decision the instant she heard Naga's proclamation, had kissed her husband and child earlier that morning knowing it was to be her last, had thrown her entire conviction into that final strike, she still feared the oncoming seconds. Still, Haura knew even as her body fought to keep herself alive, there was nothing her panic could win her.

As her final words left her lips, echoing as her lungs had started fading, she tried to memorize the distressed faces before her. To forget them would be a worse fate than death, so, even if her last remembrances would be their stricken expressions, she would try to dream of them in the enveloping darkness. One by one she picked them out.

There was Gaius, with his drawn brows and pale face, trying to brush off the old world-weary pain and failing. Tharja, who had collapsed into a hunched pile, trying to call on the dark magic of the world to save her to no avail. Lucina shed no tears, but she, who wanted Grima's death at the cost of almost anything, beheld Haura with a single question in her eyes. "Why?"

Morgan, who was sobbing openly, but could not tear his eyes away from her. Haura wanted to reach a hand out to dry his tears, but she had no way of doing so now. And Chrom, dear Chrom, who had a look of sadness that reminded Haura of when they lost Emmeryn, all those years ago. She wished she had words for him now, just as she had wished back then.

And Lon'qu. He had known. He was the only one who she had dared to give her last confession to. Immediately afterwards, Haura had regretted doing so. It broke his heart. But he did not argue, did not waste time. Holding her firmly all those nights, he had been determined to love her all the more fiercely in their last guttering moments together. They clung to each other and to their vain hopes, that he could tether her to this world with the trail of her nails on his back and the bruising kisses on her stomach.

His expression he now wore this flickering hope, a fierce love, a broken love. She met his eyes briefly and tried to give him all that remained of her heart. All the rest of her she pledged to him in that instant, to be warm on the cold Feroxi nights and to be strong enough to cry. A tear dropped out of her eye and fell straight towards the ground.

And then she was gone.

 

 

"Now, the ground is not the best place for a nap, is it? ...that's how it goes, right?"

"No, no, she's not even awake yet. You have to wait until she's awake and then we drop your name as I call to you."

"But it's already been days! I'm sure I didn't take this long. What should we do?"

Those familiar words. Well, slightly familiar. Haura's eyes snapped open and she bolted up into a sitting position. Right afterwards, the nausea followed and she swallowed back the bile that filled her mouth.

Wait. Her mouth. Haura looked down. Her body was sprawled under her in the same grandmaster uniform as usual. She could even feel the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. Her mind flew to possibilities- first and foremost that Naga had been correct and that her ties had been strong enough to bring her back to the world of the living. Which meant she had to confirm one thing. Haura grabbed her right hand glove and tore it off. Then her heart sank.

The Mark of Grima was as black as it had been the day she had died.

"Don't worry. It is not what you think." a male voice, unfamiliar and deep, said. Haura looked up and saw two strangers standing above her. The man and women both wore simple, matching shirts and trousers and seemed unarmed. But Haura could tell, with her tactician’s eye, from the way they carried themselves, that they both knew how to fight. Her hand strayed to her side and came up empty of sword or tome.

The lady was speaking. "Do you think that's the first thing she wants to hear? Iliya, the proper thing to say is that Grima is really dead. You did it, Haura! I never doubted that you could do it."

"What are you talking about? What is this Grima? Who are you? Who am I?" Haura replied slowly.

"...you don't think she lost her memory again?" The man called Iliya said to his companion with a hint of worry. Haura took this moment to take a gander at her surroundings. The moon shone down on them through a crack in the storm clouds. They were in a field of grass and weeds, but at the edges, Haura could see a shadowy mist that blanketed as far as the eye could see. It reminded her of the void Grima had tried to keep her prisoner. The entire place felt otherworldly and that made Haura incredibly uneasy.

"Impossible. Her Heart of Grima is way too strong for that to happen again. Look at this place! It gives me the shivers, to be back to this again." The lady said and when she shook her head, her black hair swept over one of her blue eyes.

"Hence why we need to do what we vowed to Brittanie. The grip of Grima is so strong on her. The sooner we can guide her through this, the sooner she'll get to return to her-" Iliya said.

"Shush, honestly, your chivalry makes you as dumb as a brick sometimes. Look how she’s seizing us up! You continuing to spoil everything will just make it that much harder to explain. Right, Haura?" The lady turned back and winked at Haura, who was taken aback.

"I don't understand." Haura repeated in the same plodding tone even as her mind worked furiously. They clearly had more than a passing knowledge on not only her lineage but her very personality. The only people that knew she and Grima were the same were a select few of the Shepards and Validar's Grimleal comrades. If these were the remnants of the Grimleal, Haura could not imagine them being anything other than hungry for her blood. And the way they discussed about her as an interesting specimen or a tool screamed to Haura they were not to be trusted. She had no weapon, but that did not mean she could not defend herself.

"Come on, Samantha. The poor lady's confused. She just woke up after the most devastating battle of her life. Don't you remember what it was like? Does she not deserve an explanation? Or even a demonstration of what is going on?" Iliya insisted and stepped forward, a tome in hand.

Haura loathed to do it, but given the circumstances, she was not entire averse to drawing on her fellblood to give her power. It had been what she used to strike down Grima, pulled together from her own blood magic. She had never intended to use it again, but a tactician in dire straits could learn to compromise. The old power ran rancid through her body, making the nausea return, but Haura kept churning its power together inside her. She did not want to kill either of them yet, but she had to ensure her own survival and return to the Shepards as soon as possible. Especially, as Haura felt the dragon's magic crackle at her fingertips, if Grima was as alive as Haura.

"Listen, just let me handle this- whoa, wait, Haura, what are you doing? Are you crazy?" The lady named Samantha exclaimed as she saw the ripples of purple lightning crest around where Haura was kneeling.

"Haura, you need to stop this, now, before you bind yourself even further to the fell dragon and are truly lost." Iliya said in a quick, panicked tone.

"Wouldn't you want that? You're clearly Grimleal. Look at the make of your clothes and your knowledge of me. Tell me where I am and which way is the quickest to Ylisse, or I'll strike you both down where you stand." Haura demanded. A clap of thunder rang out over head and the patch of grass was plunged into darkness as the moon disappeared behind storm clouds.

"We're not your enemies! And we're not Grimleal. Haura, you have to stop now or you'll bring Grima into this Outrealm-!" Samantha shouted above the rising wind.

"Outrealm...? Then take me to Anna. Immediately! I must be back to my own world."

"We mean you no harm! We promise to take you to safety. To Ylisse! Tactician’s word.” Iliya said, dropping the tome in the grass and holding his hands up in surrender.

Haura, who felt as if she was about to vomit any second from the diseased magic that flowed down her arm, disarmed the spell. The storm clouds parted again and a smaller sliver of moonlight shone through.

"A tactician's word only means something to their lord." Haura said with a frown. She stood up, swaying slightly, and noticed she was shorter than both of them. No matter, she had spent much of training sparring with a tall opponent who refused to pull his punches, even against his wife.

"And you are the lord of this realm. Or lady, if you prefer. We wish to pledge our loyalty to you." Iliya said. His red eyes reminded Haura a little of Frederick's, stern and unyielding, but filled with a valley of earnest kindness. He desperately wanted Haura to believe him, which unnerved her a little.

"Really? I wasn't aware that was part of the plan." Samantha quipped and Iliya elbowed her in the side, leading her to squeal. Haura was starting to re-evaluate her initial concerns. They seemed more like fanatics, armed with dangerous knowledge and ideals, but not inherently malicious, between their sibling-like antics and casual conversation.

"Lord is fine, thanks. And of this entire Outrealm? Don't be ridiculous. Not to mention, why would anyone aside from the Grimleal would say something like 'pledging our loyalty' to me?" Haura questioned.

"Do you think she got that sharp temper from her husband? She's a lot colder than I expected."

"Not now, Samantha!"

"Alright, I'll be serious. Haura, you're dead. This isn’t an Outrealm. It’s more like your personal dead realm." Samantha said flatly.

Haura blinked, shocked for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

Iliya looked at Samantha in disbelief. "That was really your tactic for being serious. It's a wonder we survived the war."

"You get hung up on little details. Just let me do the talking. You stand there and be the cool, brooding bastard that married my daughter."

"...you're not actually upset about that, right?"

As Haura quieted down, she looked up at them through the tears in her eyes. "So I am dead. And this is my grand reward. My afterlife, my eternal rest. To be trailed around by Grimleal fanatics I probably killed and called a lord. Will you fetch me tea and butter my crumpets?"

"What? No, no, you don’t understand. We don’t worship Grima! You might be dead now, but you don't have to stay this way." Samantha said.

Haura sobered up immediately. "If you want to resurrect me as a Risen, I don't care if you kill me again, I won't let you." she said.

Samantha laughed as if she thought it was a joke and put a small hand on Haura’s shoulder. “I think this will be easier if we can just sit and talk for a while. We won't force you to do anything you don't want. If you just want to rest afterwards, we will leave you be. But I'm pretty sure you're at least curious as to what your personal deathrealm is like, right?" To Haura’s alarm, her motherly smile actually made Haura feel complacent.

“Please stop calling purgatory that.” Iliya muttered.

"But...we don't have chairs." Haura blurted out, and as she said so, lawn chairs materialized on the grass. Haura recognized them as the brown wicker chairs from that picnic they had on the lawn of Maribelle's manor all those months ago. The memory brought a fond smile to her face and Samantha clapped her hands.

"There we go! I was worried all I would get to see is you scowling at me.  Maybe you could change the scenery a little too…? When we still had control, Iliya and I had this great hot springs-"

"The realm of death seems pretty convenient. Is this all built from memory?" Haura asked as she sat down. The two others followed suit. "Do I simply need to wish for it for it to come true?"

"Not people." Iliya cut in even as Haura began conjuring up the roughness of Lon'qu's hands, the rumble of his rib cage when he spoke, and those lidded eyes that shot warmth into her stomach each time he stared at her. "Something as simple as a chair, yes. But never people."

"I see." she replied and let the image dissolve away, tinged with regret. So she still hungered after death. Even if it was a shadow, Haura would have liked to see a familiar face instead of these cultists. “So. Explain what you meant about binding myself further to the fell dragon. And who you are. And how things work around here.”

“Introductions. Yes, we can do those. Even if they feel a little superfluous seeing as we watched your entire life.” Iliya said slowly, “My name is Iliya. I am a tactician for-”

“He is my assistant tactician. And I’m Samantha. We were both serving in our prince’s army before we died. Rather heroically, I’d say.”

“No it wasn’t. It was foolish. You should have let me take the blow.” Iliya said and the old bitterness in his voice rang loud and clear.

“Are we going to start this again? You know I could never let you go it alone, old friend.” Samantha said as her voice turned soft. Haura felt as if she was spying on some private moment and looked out into the mist again. It looked as if the purple fog had begun rolling further back, out of the borders. The perimeter grass was noticeably dead.

“What’s out there?” Haura interrupted their bickering.

“Nothing. You walk out there if you want to take the endless sleep. That is where Grima is now. Somewhere out in that nothingness.” Iliya said. “The mist will retreat from time to time, but even when our realm was at its biggest, it still extended far beyond our ability to see.”

“We call that true death. This is purgatory, sort of the waiting room. If you want, you could go right now.” Samantha asked and Haura honestly considered saying yes, to get away from them, for a moment, before the fear in Samantha’s eyes stopped her.

“I am still curious about a lot of things. I won’t leave until my questions are answered. Including why I am still thirsty when I am dead.” Haura said as glasses of fruit wine appeared on a stand.

“Mental reflex. You’ll notice nothing actually tastes really good or satisfies you anyway. I suppose it’s to keep you motivated to go back.” Samantha said as she reached over to grab a drink.

“You’re going out of order again.” Iliya chided before delving into an explanation. "Do you remember yours and Naga’s words? Those invisible ties...Those are the key for you to escape this purgatory. You can still go back and live your mortal life."

Haura dropped her glass and it vanished into the air. “I thought that was a platitude. I thought Naga was telling me such to prepare me for the inevitable. That it would be too good to be true. Are you saying I really can cheat death like this?” she exclaimed. A thousand images flashed by her eyes, all of the Shepards in those last moments. Another tear formed at the corner of her eye.

“It is not that simple. Look.” Samantha said sadly. And in unison, they stretched out their right hands. Haura looked and flinched. The Mark of Grima stretched white upon the backs of their hands. “We were like you, Haura. Rather, you are like us.”

“May I?” Iliya asked as he reached for Haura’s right hand. She nodded slowly and he took it with great caution. His thumb traced the Mark of Grima. "This... this is still here because you are still tied to Grima. It- well, she for you, I suppose. She is dead by this hand. But there is a part of her that is dead the way you are, rather, the part of her that is you. The Heart of Grima."

"She's still trying to come back. Because she's not dead in all the timelines, in all the worlds. Sometimes, they just put Grima to sleep for another millennium. Once in a while, Grima wins and that world, that future, ends. It is like a star winking out. Haura, we were people like you, from different universes, different times. Only in this emptiness called death, where there is no time and no space, could we meet like this. And we too were given this sliver of a chance to cheat death. But the girl before us, Brittanie, and the ones before her, have always warned us. Because until this mark fades for good, we are still tied to the fell dragon in death." Samantha said.

"So there are millions of Grima. Just as there are millions of me. Possibility after possibility of Grima possessing us and killing the world over and over again. And if I return while I’m still connected to her, I could pull her back as well. And all that death and fighting would begin again." Haura said with an ashen face.   

“We are all people of incredible will. So yes, that would be a possibility. But that is why we are here to help you. It is a great chain, started by the mythical first ‘Robin’. Brittanie was here for us, and now we are here for you. Although it is unlikely to be an actual successor chain, given the winding and twisting nature of spacetime and consequential action.” Iliya said with a smile.

“But I don’t understand. How do you undo something like the strength of my Heart of Grima?” Haura challenged. “How can something like this brand fade at all?”

Ilyia and Samantha looked at each other in contemplation for a moment. “Meditation.” Samantha said simply. “Accepting what you are and who you are. Loving yourself. Valuing life above all else. Loving others. These are all things the fell dragon cannot cling onto, things that your time with the Shepards has given you in the first place. Did they not allow you to escape Validar’s control the first time?”

Haura let out a skeptical laugh.

Iliya let out a huff of amusement. “We thought it trite when we first heard this as well. But it not only works, it was far harder than we expected. We’re still not done. But soon.”

“I’ll see my sweet Lucina again. I know she had been hurting terribly without her mother. After all, nothing could be worse than losing a parent.” Samantha sighed and Iliya wrinkled his nose.

“We’re not getting into this argument of who she misses more. Last time our brands got darker.” Iliya insisted.

“And I still say that was a trick of the light. Or the fact we’ve gotten so pale without the sun.” Samantha waved him off.

“Wait, Lucina? So when you say I am like you, you literally meant, you were me in other timelines. And you fought by the Shepards too? Under Chrom?” Haura exclaimed.

“Lo and behold, there are worlds and worlds of Chroms. Keeps people like Samantha happy.” Iliya said and Samantha snorted into her drink. “But honestly you need only concern yourself with your own. They are Chroms, but they’re not really yours. You understand, right? It’s not like one is predominant over the other.”

“This is a little hard to take in all at once.” Haura admitted.

Iliya chuckled. “Oh, we know. Samantha and I spent the first several ‘days’ yelling at each other and sulking. Brittanie had no idea how to handle the both of us.”

“I did not sulk- that was all you.” Samantha pointed out.

“Regardless, my world is the one that has all my love and I am willing to trust you crazy cultists on this chance. That is the only one I wish to return to.” Haura said. Iliya and Samantha exchanged smiles.

“Well, there will be one other world you will be concerned about. You had to be wondering how did we know so much about your timeline, right?” Samantha said. She picked up Ilyia’s tome from the ground, muttered an incantation, and shot a clear bolt of thunder into the clouds. The sky turned bright all of a sudden and Haura had to shield her eyes. It was as if the sun had come out, except Haura could see grass fields, stretching every which way in the sky. Iliya slid out of his chair to lie on the ground. Haura followed suit, even as she felt a little topsy turvy at having land both below and on top of her.

“Look! Their fated meeting. This timeline looks promising after all.” Iliya pointed and Haura realized his finger gestured at someone in very familiar robes talking to some very familiar people.

“Chrom, Lissa, Frederick! It’s me.” Haura yelled before she could stop herself and sprang to her feet, reaching towards the sky. “I’m here, I’m here-!”

“Haura, they can’t hear you. This isn’t even your world.” Samantha said, a tinge of melancholy in her voice. “Look, see that boy they just pulled to his feet?”

“Those are my robes. I recognize the grass. This was my first meeting with Chrom, Lissa, and Frederick.” Haura deduced softly as her heart sank. She kept her gaze upwards so her new guides would not see the way her eyes watered. “But that boy. That’s the Grima’s Avatar in a different timeline. He looks so…innocent.” Her voice trailed off as she remembered the long, uphill journey the last year was, the hope and despair. But here, this new her from a different world was unblemished and looked towards the sky, a little lost.

“You did as well. We watched you, the same way you will watch him. Sooner or later, Iliya and I will be ready and we’ll make the final journey back to our own world. Then we’ll pass on our job to you. Our previous mentor and hers before did the same thing. And you’ll have known this boy, and you’ll be able to help him like we want to help you. He won’t be like you- his decisions are his alone. As are all the people around him. Your life was very different from ours. But Grima is our common denominator. So if he ends up here, he won’t just walk into true death without taking this chance. This is our, all the ‘Robins’ across time and space, last and best hidden card.” Samantha explained.

“I see.” Haura murmured as she sunk back down to sit on the grass, craning her neck upwards. They were running towards the bandit ridden village now. The boy, Remus, had pale green manakete-like hair cropped short, but human ears and Haura wondered. Haura noted he seemed to have a robust, easy demeanor and his commands were soft and hard to hear. She remembered her first orders in the heat of battle had been loud, jittery bursts as her adrenaline blazed into her voice. His enemies looked more threatening than she remembered, although Haura blamed her faulty memory. She racked her brains for those early sensations of her new ‘birth’ in the world and remembered the way her hands had felt as she found swordplay in her muscle memory and lines of incantations rolling off her practiced tongue.

In her version of this first fight, Frederick had gone ahead and killed the warrior aiming for her as she stumbled over a line in a Thunder incantation.  Refusing to be in his debt, she had returned to favor by roasting an armored warrior that even Frederick’s lance had trouble with. Only later did she begin to understand the give and take of teamwork. Their first victory had brought exultation and relief on Haura’s part. She had realized how famished she was, only to be dragged away from the town’s promise of food for a character building march. That entire walk, Lissa had alternated between asking her questions and telling her about the haildom the entire walk, letting Haura adjust to the art of conversation and, later, the art of joking at Frederick’s expense. Chrom asked just as many concerned questions and their march had slowed down to a stroll. And she had not known he was Prince Chrom at the time!

Haura wondered, almost selfishly, if Lon’qu existed in this timeline. She knew not to confuse this outrealmer with her husband, but she did wish to see his face again and hear his voice. And how she missed all the others as well, Maribelle and Sully and Gaius-

“I think you undid whatever you were doing with your blood magic earlier.” Iliya’s voice wafted in and Haura was snapped out of her recollection. When she looked down at her hand, nothing looked lighter to her. Iliya explained, “It had started to pulse purple, but now it’s just black again. We were worried you could actually call Grima here like that. It seems you’re starting understand one method of breaking with Grima though.”

“It’s...to help ourselves to remember our lives outside of our place as Grima’s vessel and to relook at ourselves through Remus’ own life…” Haura said and she put her hands behind her head. “It’s like reassembling a puzzle. A grand strategic puzzle built out of our bonds and friends and memories. This is something I can beat Grima at any day.” Haura said and for the first time in a while, she wore a confident grin.

“Right! It’s really easy to get memories confused and to just forget the ups in favor of the downs. But that just holds us back.” Samantha said as she lay down, completing the circle between their heads.

“After all, your journey taught us a lot, Haura. What it means to acknowledge your faults and the faults of those around you, but still love them and support them all the same. And how they do that for you as well. How to continue regardless of all adversity.” Iliya said and Haura flushed.

“I have no secrets from you, I suppose. Just as this poor fellow will have none from me.”

“All part of parenting. Don’t worry, you’ll start shouting to the sky soon, especially when he starts to look at the girls and boys. We are all very attractive after all, Haura.” Samantha teased and Haura kept her vision stubbornly focused on the sky. To Haura’s horror, she did not stop here. “At the time, I couldn’t believe you married Lon’qu. We were so worried you were going to be a virgin and never get Morgan-”

Haura’s entire face had turned bright red as she sputtered. “That’s none of your business, woman-”

“Aww, you even sound like him.”

Iliya looked affronted. “Nonsense, Sama. Don’t speak so crudely about their private marriage.” Haura turned to the side to thank him, but he continued with a smirk, “But early on, I thought you would go for Tharja, to be honest. We never worked out in my timeline, but you seemed to gel better with her personality-”

“Augh-!” She groaned. Haura pulled her hood all the way over her head and and covered her entire face. They burst out into laughter.

Haura wondered if she could just stick her ears in the mist and numb them for the rest of eternity. As they settled into a comfortable silence- Haura wondered if one could sleep in purgatory- she looked up to Remus with his elegant cheekbones and crooked grin and wondered after a year of laying here, she too would have nothing better to think about other than her protégé’s love life.

Then again, he would look very handsome by Cordelia’s side…

              

**Author's Note:**

> First off, thank you to the lovely Sama, Reni, and Brittanie for lending me their tacticians to be my chew toys. ^^;
> 
> This was a bet with myself to a) write a oneshot and b) do something fun with other people's characters. I ended up succeeding at both, but also writing until 1 am. So, dubious quality ahoy! 
> 
> I love crazy timeline shenanigans and I'd like to think it wasn't that the 'Robin' just instantly came back after their sacrifice. And something as nebulous as "ties" always bothered me, so I took this odd interpretation to the whole matter. 
> 
> (This was really just a fluff writing exercise.)


End file.
